Happy Accidents
by Straya
Summary: G Gundam Based on the info we get in the series, the story of how the girls first met Chibodee Crocket, as told from Shirley's point of view.


_Standard Disclaimer: I unfortunately don't own G Gundam or any of the characters. The lucky folks who own them are Bandai, Sunrise, TV Asahi and Sotsu Agency! _

(And to keep confusion to a minimum, Shirley is the redhead, Janet is the blond, Bunny is the brunette with glasses and Cath is the dark haired gal.) 

**"Happy Accidents"**

There's a term out there called "happy accidents." Things like that are what happen when you make a mistake, or things seem to go haywire, but then end up turning out for the best. It's like that dark cloud that turns white and fluffy on you in the end, instead of just getting a silver lining. You'd think that a gal like me wouldn't believe in things like happy accidents, seeing as how my friends and I were all street rats for most of our lives, but even we learned over time to believe in little miracles. 

My name's Shirley, by the way. Like my friends, Bunny, Janet and Cath, I was raised in old, run down New York City in Earthbound Neo-America. We all came from families that had financial troubles, and were brought up on the wrong side of the tracks. When you don't make enough to live on the colonies, life's just like that, and you get used to it over the years. My mother passed away when I was little, and seeing as how my father spent most of his time working a crumby job and drinking, I spent a lot of time away from home. When I wasn't in school, I was out with the other girls, usually up to no good. We didn't have things like fancy game systems or money to go shopping with, so we spent all our time playing pranks on the other kids and tinkering with machines we found in the local junkyard. My dad was a mechanic, and although he didn't really do much to help me further my knowledge in the field, I'd seen him work enough and messed with enough of his tools to get my own start. 

I'd tell you that I left home as soon as I graduated from high school, but we never even made it that far. Now, don't think that the lot of us weren't smart; we knew how to read, write and do math. It's just that we knew in the end that we'd never get much farther. The local community college had a bad reputation, and our families were too poor to send us elsewhere for a decent education. Well, between that and we were close to expulsion by the start of our senior year, anyway. My guess is that the principal was close to figuring out that we were the ones who put superglue on the staff toilet seats. 

So the four of us moved away from home, or maybe more like run away from home, and managed to get a crappy little apartment in the downtown area. We barely scraped by every month by working two bit jobs, fixing people's car, and filching things from the local stores. And while we were happy to have each other, we knew that unless we tried to get out of the hell hole we were stuck in, life would always stink. There we were, four "sisters" who needed a plan. 

I suppose I've always been the brains of the operation, not to put down anyone else's ideas, of course. But when it came to breaking free from old New York City, it was my idea in the end to try and get to the Neo-American colony. Granted, we had very little money, and only the very well off could travel and afford to actually live there, so we started to hatch a plan to get up there by any means necessary. It would be the grandest adventure we'd ever had, and just talking about it made us all excited, nervous and even sick at the same time. I figured that if we could get to the nearest space port, which was just outside of town, we could sneak on board a shuttle and hitch a ride skyward. Our best chance would be to hide in some boxes, maybe on a shipment of raw materials for colony building and expansion. We planned it out the best we could, visiting the port several times and drawing maps, making notes of the guards' shifts and getting packed. On this sort of trip, you had to travel light, so we only took our most precious possessions and managed to cram them all into four small backpacks. When the day finally came for us to say goodbye to the city, I think we all had butterflies in our stomachs. Bunny, especially, looked really nervous, but we did our best as we rode a bus out to the spaceport to convince her that everything was so well planned, we couldn't possibly fail. 

Once we were off the bus, we hid off the grounds until later on in the evening when it would be harder for anyone to see us sneaking around. We picked a mid-sized shuttle that was in one of the far hangars, as it had a pretty good sized cargo bay. An hour before take off, we snuck around the guards and got on board the shuttle, hiding ourselves back in one corner of the cargo hold. 

"Shirley, I think I'm gonna be sick...." 

"You can't possibly be sick now!" I whispered to Bunny, who was already looking a bit green around the gills. "We'll probably be taking off any minute." 

"I dunno. I'm starting to wonder if maybe this was such a good idea," Janet said with a worried frown. "I know we've talked about this already, but what if they catch us?" 

"They couldn't possibly toss us out of the shuttle, could they?" Cath replied, smirking, her darker skin helping her eyes to stand out more in the dim light. Cath was often the most adventurous next to me, so it wasn't surprising that she could still manage to be a little sarcastic in a situation like that. 

"The worst they can do is hold us until we get to the colony, and then probably ship us back here again," I reminded them. "I doubt they'd want to crowd the colony jails with the likes of us..." 

"I just hope we can really cut it up there," Janet went on. "It's probably gonna be really hard for a while." 

"C'mon, ladies, this isn't time for second thoughts," Cath said, tsk'ing a little. 

"I'll just be glad when the actual trip is over," Bunny whimpered a little, using both hands to brush her shoulder length, nut brown hair away from her face and glasses. 

At that moment, the shuttle had started to move, taxing out to the runway and launch tracks. The lot of us held onto both one another and the heavy, secured crates around us, afraid we'd be tossed across the hold when the shuttle actually sped up the ramp and leapt skyward. For a few minutes, the craft continued to move slowly, getting into position. We listened as the captain's voice came over the PA, instructing all passengers to prepare for take off and to be sure they were strapped into their seats. Bunny whimpered again at the mention of seatbelts, seeing as how we didn't have any, and then, the engines began to roar. Janet's grip on my right hand was so tight that I swear her knuckles were turning white as the shuttle began to speed up, and then turned up at a sharp incline. All of us struggled to hold in cries of fear as the entire craft went vertical, rocketing up towards the atmosphere. 

I'll have to say that we got really lucky. Having boxed ourselves in between a couple of well secured crates and getting a hold of some of the wall rungs and straps, we managed not to get flung out into the open. Still, those minutes that ticked by as the shuttle continued to climb were nerve-racking ones. I swear my stomach had been left behind, and the other girls were looking as green as Bunny had been earlier. 

Finally, the shuttle turned again, and seemed to straighten out. I exhaled sharply, sensing that we'd left the atmosphere and were well on our way; it'd felt like I'd been holding my breath the entire time. Bunny looked like she was about to faint, but Janet and Cath were discovering that while the artificial gravity had been turned on, it was only enough to keep us from completely lifting off. They pushed themselves off the floor of the hold, giggling as they floated slowly down again. 

"Well, good job, girls," I congratulated them with a smile. "Second phase is in progress, and so far, so good." 

"So how long do you think it will be until we dock?" Janet questioned. 

"We're not really sure," Cath responded before I could say anything, even though my answer would have been about the same. "I've heard it doesn't take all that long, though, considering we're going from Earth into space." 

"Good thing we brought a little food with us in that case, I guess," the blond sighed. "I just hope no one's gotta use the little girl's room anytime soon." 

"Um..." 

The three of us turned to look at Bunny, who was about as green as a frog. 

"Bunny, I thought I told you to go before we left!" Cath growled, a little irritated. 

"I don't think it's that," I said with a frown of concern. "I think she's still sick." 

Bunny nodded uneasily, drawing her knees up to her chest and wrapping her arms around them. "I... I'm afraid I might throw up...." 

"Great. Bunny's gotten space sick," Cath sighed. "Now what are we gonna do?" 

"There should be a bathroom in the main passenger area, maybe towards the back, like old airplanes?' Janet suggested, hopefully. "She might be able to sneak in there." 

"Not if one of the flight attendents sees her exiting or entering the cargo hold," I sighed, rubbing the bridge of my nose between thumb and forefinger. "Bunny, are you SURE you're gonna hurl?" 

The brunette nodded, her eyes closed. Her grip around her legs tightened, as if she hoped that by balling up further, she could hold down her earlier meal. 

"What if she just does it in the opposite corner of the cargo hold?" Janet asked. 

"Even with some gravity in here, I'm worried part of it might start floating around," I replied, feeling a headache coming on. 

Cath and Janet looked at one another, making faces of disgust. "Ewww..." 

"Looks like we'll have to try and smuggle her into the passenger cabin." Standing up, I peered over the near crate at the door leading to the area beyond. "Maybe if you open the door just a hair and check first, you can manage to get through without being noticed. Then just stay in the bathroom until it's clear to come back." 

Bunny nodded and got up, swaying a little bit. Grabbing one of her arms, I helped guide her around the crates and to the cabin door. Janet and Cath peered out at us from behind the crate, looking more than a little anxious. For a couple tense moments, the pair of us just stared at the closed portal, afraid that we'd open it just as someone from the other side was grabbing the handle. Finally, I reached out with my free hand and placed it on the cold, metal bar and slowly pulled it down. A soft click followed, and then a tiny creak as the door opened up about an inch. Leaning forward, I peeked through the tiny crack to see that the way was clear. There was only one flight attendent on board from what I could see, and she was way down at the other end, getting a cart of drinks prepared. The passenger cabin itself was mostly empty, as it was, meaning less chance of being noticed by anyone. 

"Alright, Bunny, go!" I whispered harshly, easing the door open. 

The poor girl at my side nodded and then made her way forward, slipping through the opening and heading straight for the bathroom door, which was on the left side of the little hall area between us and main cabin. As soon as she was through and shutting the bathroom door behind her, I eased the door shut again, breathing a deep sigh of relief. So far, so good. 

In the bathroom, meanwhile, Bunny took care of business quickly. As soon as she was done, she rinsed her mouth out, wiped her mouth on a bit of toilet paper and leaned back against one of the walls for a minute, feeling relieved. But as she cracked open the door to take her leave, she realized that the flight attendant was in the aisle again. Pulling the door quickly shut, Bunny felt her stomach clench up all over again. I really felt sorry for her, later. It's not her fault she gets space sick easily, and out of all us, she was probably the least ept at dealing with situations like this. 

A knock sounded on the door a few seconds later. Bunny gasped as a voice called from the other side. 

"Uh, miss? Are you alright?" 

Bunny held her breath, but then looked at the lock on the door. It was switched to "occupied." Whoever was outside would know that someone was in there, no matter what. What the hell was she supposed to do? If she stayed quiet, they might try to break the door open, thinking a passenger had collapsed inside. But, if she made any reply, they might want to bring her medicine or something and find out that she was a stowaway. She told me later that she had cursed herself for being unable to come up with a foolproof escape plan on the spot, but I don't think I would have been able to think of anything, either. 

"I'm... I'm fine! Thank you!" Bunny finally called out nervously. "I'll be out in a minute!" 

"Alright." 

She stood in the stall for a minute more, then cracked the door open as little as possible and peered outside. No sign of the flight attendent in the aisle. Opening the door wider, Bunny stepped outside and slowly clicked the bathroom door shut behind her...only to turn around and see the stewardess standing between her and cargo door. Bunny broke out into a cold sweat. 

"I brought this for you, miss," the flight attendent offered, smiling, and handed Bunny a little packet of pills. "Here, let me help you back to your seat." 

"I'm fine, really," Bunny tried to reassure her, but the stewardess nodded her forward. Unable to think of anything else, the poor girl walked down the aisle, looking for a seat that she chould slide into. 

Choosing one towards the back, the brunette sat down and nodded her thanks to the flight attendent, who told her that if she needed anything else, to just call. Then she was gone, walking back up the aisle and behind the curtain to the tiny little kitchen area beyond. Bunny fidgeted for a second, and glanced back at the cargo hold door. Looking back down the aisle again, she saw that one of the passengers, a guy with spikey hair, was eying her. He smirked a little, winked, and then went back to reading a magazine. More nervous than ever, Bunny was about to make a break for the door when two men wearing black suits came through the curtain at the end of the aisle. 

Shuttle security. 

"Miss?" the most foward of the two asked as they stopped by her seat, their eyes hidden by pairs of dark sunglasses, "Can we please see your shuttle ticket?" 

"I...um...er," Bunny stammered nervously, searching her own pockets. "I... seem to have...lost it..." 

"I see." The security guard grabbed one of her arms and "encouraged" her to get up. "Please come with us, miss." 

Before she knew what was happening, Bunny was being led back to the cargo hold. 

I had been sitting by a crate near the door, waiting for Bunny and getting increasingly worried the longer it took when the door suddenly opened. Before I could so much as get to my feet to make a break for it, there were the two guards with Bunny in their custody. I could do little more than hold still while the other one clapped handcuffs over my wrists and then went to search the rest of the hold. There was nowhere to run or hide.... We were in over our heads on this one. 

They handcuffed all four of us and then sat us down by the door, one guard staying behind to babysit us while the other went to call in a report. We had barely even made it halfway to our destination before we'd been caught. Bunny sat and cried for a long while after, convinced that everything had been her fault. I felt bad just because the whole trip had been my idea in the first place. I just hoped that the worst they would do was put us on the next shuttle and send us back to Earth and old New York City, again. 

We sat through the rest of the trip in silence, save for Bunny's crying every now and again. The two guards changed off on shift every so often, talking occassionally when both were in the room about what was to be done with us as soon as the shuttle docked. From the sounds of things, we'd be held in custody at the port's holding room until they could confirm that the authorities would be waiting to recieve us back on Earth after the return trip. My heart broke when I heard that; it looked like we might end up going to jail for a while. So we had come so far...only to hit rock bottom. 

The shuttle docked at the Neo-American colony spaceport some hours later. The four of us were shuffled off the craft first, the two guards handing us over to some grouchy looking customs officers who were all armed with handguns. I tried to glance around as each of us was searched for weapons, our backpacks opened and their contents dumped onto the metal floor, but there was nowhere to run to.... Even if there was a place to try and run for, we weren't fast enough to outrun bullets. Behind us, the passengers were disembarking, single file. 

"Stow-aways, is it?" 

All four of us turned in the direction of the voice, which has been raised so all could hear it. A man in late teens was walking down the steps from the passenger cabin, his hands buried in the pockets of his slate blue, fringed jacket. His hair was spiked up somewhat, pink in the front and a bluish purple the rest of the way through. As he stepped down from the stairs and began to walk towards us, we could see he was also wearing an old pair of blue jeans, a red shirt and black sneakers. He looked familiar, somehow, but I couldn't place it.... 

"Nothing for you to be concerned about, Mr. Crocket," one of the officers assured him. "Just more trash trying to sneak into the colony." 

I resisted the urge to blush and grit my teeth at the word "trash." Just who the hell did these people think they were? I could see the other girls, especially Cath, were also upset by this. These rich scum had no idea what it was like to live life on the line, every single damn day, scraping and scratching out a living. 

"'Trash', hrm?" Crocket looked at each one of us, a bit of a gleam in his eye as he gnawed on a bit of hay weed. "I don't think you should call a bunch of ladies like this trash." 

His response to the officer surprised me, but it was also in that moment that I recognized the name in conjunction with the face. It was THE Chibodee Crocket... One of Neo-America's greatest boxers. He often travelled between Earth and colonies to compete in the ring. Although we hadn't been able to afford a good TV for our run down apartment in New York, I had seen his face on posters in stores before, advertising pay per view matches. 

"Don't be ridiculous, Mr. Crocket," the officer insisted with a half smirk. "They're just trying to sneak in and make life more difficult for us all. They'd probably steal your own mother from you, if given the chance!" 

Chibodee's expression suddenly darkened considerably, and he turned his head to one side, spitting out the bit of hay weed in contempt. "Some of us ain't got any mother to steal, jackass. Now how about you stand aside and let me talk to the ladies?" 

"Mr. Crocket, I must protest th--" 

"You wanna take this up with the President, or what? I said back the hell off." 

"Y... yessir." 

As the officers backed away a little, the boxer came forward, approaching me first. He stopped a few feet shy of me and tilted my chin up a little with one hand, his green eyes meeting mine. I looked back at him in defiance, holding down my fear. I didn't know much about this man, and I didn't care much for the fact that he thought he could just walk right up and touch me, since I was handcuffed. 

"All four of ya are street rats, aren't ya? Used to scraping up money where ya can and stealing your food when you need it?" He glanced at the other girls, who echoed my expression of defiance. "I can see it in your eyes... Reminds me of myself when I was younger." 

Our eyes widened, collectively. What did this man know about living on the streets of New York City? 

Chibodee nodded a little, smirking. "Yep. I would still be livin' down there if I hadn't taken up street fighting and been scouted by agents. You four... You've probably always wanted to come to the colonies, huh?" 

"Y...yes, sir," Bunny managed to get out, surprising the rest of us. 

"Well, ya made it, didn't you?" he asked, grinning now. The boxer then turned back to the lead officer. "You, there. Unlock their handcuffs." 

Stepping foward with great reluctance, the man uncuffed all of us and took back the handcuffs. He glared at Chibodee, but his look of anger turned to one of surprise as a wad of bills was shoved into his hands by the champ. 

"Are you bribing me, Mr. Crocket!?" 

"No, I'm paying for their trip up here." Chibodee shrugged and then laughed. "You just leave these four to me, now. Seein' as how they're no longer stowaways, they're now my guests." 

My jaw almost hit the floor, and I could see from the other's reactions that they were just as shocked. This man who knew almost nothing about us had just paid out a small fortune for us as if it were nothing. Then the thought occurred to me that perhaps it had been more like we'd been BOUGHT. What was he going to do with us, now that he had us? The only thing was that if we didn't go with him, we ran the risk of getting in trouble with the officers before getting out of the port. Who was to say that they would leave us alone simply because our way had been paid? They might try to get us just for loitering, and then heap on more false charges, later. In short, we had no choice, but to go with Crocket. 

"C'mon, girls," Chibodee said as he began to walk off. "You can ride with me. Should be a limo outside the port, waiting for us." 

"A limo...?" Janet whispered. "I don't think I've ever even seen one before...." 

"I'm not too sure about this," Cath began to say, but I shook my head, silencing her. 

"Either we go with him, or we stay with these bastards," I reminded her in a low voice, nodding my head ever so slightly in the direction of the space port officers. 

We all glanced at one another, picked up things, and hurried after Chibodee. He led us down to the main lobby where he picked up his luggage, one small suitcase, and then outside where a sleek, black limo was waiting by the curb. The chauffer took all of our bags and stowed them in the trunk while Mr. Crocket held the car door open for us. 

"Ladies first," he said with a smile, one eyebrow raised. 

Deciding that I wasn't going to let any one man scare me after all we'd just been through, I entered the vehicle first, moving to sit on the seat behind the driver's side. Cath followed, then Janet and Bunny. Once we were all inside, Chibodee got inside and moved over to the side opposite the door in the back seat. The driver shut the door and then we were off, heading to lord only knew where. 

"Sorry about those assholes back there," he began as we hit the highway. "People like them don't have any respect for those of us who had to work our asses off to get where we are, now. But I meant what I said, before. You all and your street-wise looks remind me of myself some years ago." 

"We appreciate your help, Mr. Crocket, but... what are you planning to do with us?" I finally asked, voicing the questions that was on all our minds. 

"I'm not gonna do a damn thing with you, if you don't want," he replied with a shrug. "If you wanna get out at the next stop and go on your way, fine by me. But, if you wanna make sure that you'll be able to stick around on the colony, I can offer you all a job opening." 

"And what sort of job would that be?" Cath inquired. 

Chibodee grinned and leaned back in his seat, crossing one leg over the other, right ankle resting on his left knee. "I'm sure you all know what I do for a living. Not many these days haven't seen my picture some place or another. But a good boxer needs a support crew to help him train and to hang around the ring during matches. Right now, I haven't got anyone, other than some grouchy old bastard who gets on my case for coming home late after a few drinks on weekends. How'd you girls like to take his place?" 

The idea of an actual job AND staying on the colony was tempting, but did we really want to commit to being a ring crew? We'd never done anything like that before, and again, we barely knew this man. 

"Alright, alright. I can see you don't wanna jump headlong into this," he added after a minute, following our silence. "How about you work with me on my next match, which is coming up this weekend. If you like the job, you can stay. If you don't, you can leave and do whatever you want. What'dya say?" 

At that point, I nodded and spoke for the others. "I think we can work with that, Mr. Crocket." 

"Great! And just so I don't feel like I've hired total strangers, your names are...?" 

"Shirley," I replied, and then pointed out the others, one after another. "Cath, Bunny and Janet." 

"I'll make sure you girls get nothing, but the best when you're with me," he promised with a wink. "And you can call me Chibodee instead of Mr. Crocket. That just makes me sound like a pompous bastard, sort of like our officer friend!" 

Janet giggled, and the rest of us smiled a bit. 

"Oh, by the way, Mr... I mean, Chibodee," Bunny suddenly said, "Do you really know the President?" 

"Pfft, not really, but neither does that jerk at the spaceport. What he doesn't know is good for us!" Chibodee laughed at that, and after a moment, so did the rest of us. 

I think it was then that we knew Chibodee understood us, even though we'd just met him. He was on our side, and he always would be. Choosing to work with him was one of the best decisions we ever made, and it had turned getting caught as stowaways from a disaster into a stroke of luck. And we went on from there to become not only his boxing crew, but his roommates and his Gundam Crew. After all, sometimes things don't work out as intended, but when a happy accident occurs, you can't help but feel grateful. 

* * *

_Author's Notes: Hey, look! I wrote a fic that doesn't have George or Maria in it, AT ALL! *audience gasps* This fic had actually been knocking around in my head for a while, and I finally decided to put it down on screen so that it would stop harassing me. I've always thought the story of how the girls met Chibodee was a neat one, so... there ya go. _:) 


End file.
